Improvement in railway-tracks



A. DEYHUFF.

Railway-Tracks.

N0l 152,469, Y Patented June 30,1874.

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'UNITED 1 STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAM DEHUFF, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPRovEMENT IN RAILWAY-TRACKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 52,1169, dated June30, 1874; application tiled May 19, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ABRAM DEHUFF, of York, inthe county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in the mode of fastening rails and forming road-beds fortraek-layin g on railroads, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to provide a lrm and economical foundationfor railwaytracks. To effect this I use short piles or stout stakes,driven perpendicularly into the ground, by means of a suitablepile-driver, at proper intervals, upon the top of which, when broughttruly to the grade, the rails are fast- I provide also a means of tyingor holding the stakes and rails at the required distance apart by meansof irou or steel rods, which at the same time bind or hold each ruilfirmly to its place on the head of the pile by forcing the heads of thespikes toward each other and against the flange of the rail on eachside, as will be hereinafter shown and more particularly described.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l represents a plan view of asection of a railway-track; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section through theground, showing a side view of the railway foundation; Fig. 3, atransverse section on line x .fr Fig; 4, a tie of ordinary shape cutinto piles for use; Fig. 5, a tic-rod bent into the required shape.

A represents the rails; B, the piles, a a., the

tie-rods; b b, the spikes to hold the rails in place; U C, ties such asare in ordinary use, which ma-y be introduced at such points as, byrea-sou of hard groundV or other obstacle, it may be dfiicult topenetrate with wooden piles, or where for switch purposes they mustnecessarily be used. E shows the ballasting around the piles; E', thesame around ordinary ties 5 `Gr G, the pieces into which ordinary tiesmay be cut to be used as piles, showing the mode of dividing them iuorder to save material.

It is evident that the expenditure of material for this substitute forties will be very much less than by the old method. One common tie canbe cut into four stakes or short piles, making a saving of one-half thequantity of timber, as is seen in Fig. 4. This item is yearly becomingof more importance from the growing scarcity of suitable timber forrailway purposes. The gage of the track is kept uniform and rigid by thesteel or iron rods, which are bent into a loop around the spikes, asshown iu Fig. 5, which tend to draw them together against the flange ofthe rail. To bring the rail to a solid bearing on the head of the pilethe bent portions ofthe rods are sufficiently countersunk for thepurpose. When the piles are driven in place, broken stone for ballastingis firmly rammed around them, deep enough to secure them from any dangerot displacement. The flat sides of some of the piles are turned parallelto the track and others tranverse yto it, to aid in keeping the gageundisturbed and the track firm. As the rails, as well as the rail-jointsand the chairs under them, rest on the ends ofthe wood bers of thepiles, instead of upon the sides of the tie, as is now thecase, theywill, of course, not be so readily depressed into the grain of the wood.This saves a great expense in constantly shimmiug up to keep the rail atgrade, andl in renewing the ties, which become chaunelled and grooved bythe constant hammering 'and weight of passing trains.

Having thus describedv :my invention, I claiml. The combination ofupright piles, instead of ties, in a railway-track, with metallictierods connecting the same, substantially as and for the purposeshereinbefore shown and described.

2. The method of fastening rails by spiking them through loops formed intie-rods upon the heads ot the sustaining-piles of a railwaytrack,substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

ABRAM DEIIUFF.

Witnesses Y C. H. PooLE, G. CLARENCE POOLE.

